Rise Again

Zombie mayhem gets an interesting modern American makeover in this notable debut. In Forest Peak, a quiet town an hour outside of Los Angeles, the crowds at an Independence Day gathering suddenly go crazy, drop dead, and rise as flesh-eating corpses. As the zombies ravage the town, sheriff Danielle "Danny" Adelman, a veteran of the Iraq War, gathers together the few human survivors and they head north, looking for refuge. In San Francisco, Danny discovers signs of a military coverup for the disaster and indications that Hawkstone, a team of paramilitary independent contractors, is taking advantage of the social anarchy. Tripp balances kinetically choreographed scenes of zombie carnage with studies of well-drawn characters and enough political intrigue to give his tale more gravity and grounding than most zombie gorefests. (Nov.)